Can an offensive player move into the path of an airbourn defensive player?

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I agree with your analysis...in general.

Yet, if you view it from the point of the defender guarding the offensive player, it could just as well be considered a defensive block. You have to decide which player has the right to be moving into that spot when both are doing so. In the case of a dribbler/shooter, the opponent is usually guarding and not doing so legally.

If such actions were legal, all defenders could anticipate the path of a dribbler and jump across it such that there is a collision and get an offensive foul.

What you have to consider is whether the offensive player deliberately moved into the defender's path solely for the purpose of creating contact. If it is such that the shooter was going that way anyway, it is probably a defensive foul. If they go out of their true intended path to make contact, it is probably not a defensive foul....it may or may not be an offensive foul depending on the amount of contact.

I was picturing the offensive player as stationary, based on the reference in the OP to a "ball holder" as opposed to a ball handler. (dribbler) In such case when the defender jumps in an attempt to contest the shot and would have landed cleanly had the offensive player remained stationary, the call could only go one way.